The Serpent
Under the Road

• the night before: NWS San Diego forecast — a snow level below ~4,500 ft for the day is a no-go
• the morning of: Caltrans QuickMap (quickmap.dot.ca.gov) for SR-76, SR-78 and SR-79, and @SDCountyDPW on Facebook or X for the S2 and S22 — the County posts storm closures only there — or the Visitor Center, (760) 767-4205
• any chain control (R-1, R-2 or R-3), snow advisory or closure on any of them: do not go — there is no low way to the serpent on range
• no-go means the next clear mid-week day with none of those posted: hold a second weekday in the same week

Santa Ysabel sits at about 3,000 ft and the grade tops out near 4,200, and both have had chain controls in a cold week. Snow on the far ridges is scenery; snow on the road is the end of the day. Chains are not an option on this car, and the desert floor is not a way around: the round trip from La Quinta does not close on a battery.

• The 10 → the 5 → the 91 → the 15 south · ~101 mi, ~2h free-flow, ~2h20 on a weekday morning
• leave on 100%
• navigate to the Supercharger so the battery warms on the way

The longest leg of the day and the dullest. The 91 through the canyon is where a weekday morning adds its twenty minutes; that is what the slack after Temecula is for.

• Temecula, CA – Temecula Parkway Supercharger, on Temecula Pkwy · 8 stalls, 250 kW
• arriving on about 30%: ~101 mi plus ~2,000 ft of climbing, planned on 165 mi of hard winter driving — arithmetic, not a reading
• charge to 80%
• before you leave the 15: QuickMap once more for the 76, 78 and 79, and Santa Ysabel’s live stalls in the car — any chain control, or Santa Ysabel down or full with a queue: go home from here

Twenty-five minutes. The next leg climbs about 3,900 ft into the mountains to the last charger before Borrego Springs, which has none — and without that charger there is no way to the serpent on range.

• S16 Pechanga Pkwy and Pala-Temecula Rd → CA-76 past Pala and Lake Henshaw → the 79 south, the last 7 mi · ~45 mi, ~1h10
• navigate to the Santa Ysabel Supercharger and stay on the 76 past Pala: the 79 out of Temecula is under one-way traffic control at Radec through January 2027
• ~1,000 ft → ~3,000 ft at the charger
• any chain control on the 76, 78 or 79: turn home — another day, not the low way

Two-lane mountain road in daylight, climbing out of the Temecula valley on the 76. In a cold week this is the stretch that can close the day. Santa Ysabel is ~7 mi south of where the 76 meets the 79, and the grade starts back north past that junction: the detour costs ~16 mi and ~23 min, and it buys the charge.

• Santa Ysabel, CA Supercharger, on CA-78 · 8 stalls, 250 kW
• arriving on about 37% — arithmetic
• charge to 100% — it has to carry you over the grade, to the serpent, and then 68 mi on to La Quinta; the last ten percent is slow, so this stop runs long

The one stop on the page that is not optional at any range. From here the car does about 106 miles and 2,700 ft of climbing before it sees another charger, with three hours of standing in between — on 90% that would land exactly on the floor. Eat here.

• the 79 back north past the 76 junction → S2 → S22, Montezuma Valley Rd · ~34 mi, ~55 min to the Visitor Center
• over ~4,200 ft near Ranchita, then down ~3,400 ft of switchbacks to the valley
• the S2 and S22 are county roads: QuickMap does not cover them — @SDCountyDPW on Facebook or X, or the Visitor Center, (760) 767-4205; any closure or chain control was a no-go at 07:45
• in daylight: fine — low gear, the car will regenerate

The grade is the view of the day you will not shoot: the whole Borrego valley spread flat below, pale and hazed at one in the afternoon. Use the pullouts if you want to look; do not stop on a curve.

• 200 Palm Canyon Dr · $10 day use at the lot, 7 AM to 7 PM
• open daily 1 Oct – 31 May; winter hours not stated on the park’s page — unverified
• (760) 767-4205 · drones prohibited over the park

Water, a restroom, and the one place to ask a ranger about the roads. Skip it if you need none of those — the serpent is not in the park and costs nothing.

• Palm Canyon Dr → Christmas Circle → Borrego Springs Rd north · ~5 mi, ~12 min
• pull fully off onto firm ground about 250 yd short of the serpent — no shoulder is mapped, so judge it on arrival
• 🔴 stay off the sand: soft sand can trap a Model 3 — stop only on pavement or hard-packed ground, and if neither is there, drive on to a pull-out that is

You will see it from a long way off. Coming up from Christmas Circle you approach from the south: pull off on the right about 250 yd before you reach it. That spot is the parking for the first three frames, all on foot and all in daylight.

• on foot, south along the shoulder, then onto the sand east of the road · ~0.25 mi, ~6 min
• 15:00: sun 26° up at 230°
• free · private land, open to walk by every account — unverified

Breceda’s Pleistocene animals stand a quarter mile south of where you park, about 0.4 mi from the serpent: a giant ground sloth, camels, a sabertooth, a gomphothere. Use them to find the light and the exposure before the real frame. With the sun behind your left shoulder the steel is front-lit and the sand is nearly white. One animal, a lot of sand, the horizon high.

• on foot, back past the car to the serpent · ~0.4 mi, ~9 min
• 15:30: sun 21° up at 236° · the shadow runs ~2.5× the arch’s height east-northeast (~25 ft for a 10-ft arch) · 16:00: ~3.5×
• on the sand, 45–50 yd from one arch: fine

Pick one arch on the sand side, not the road side, and stand 45 to 50 yards from it with the sun on your left, looking roughly north. 90V, vertical 4:5: a 10-ft arch is about 14–16% of the frame’s height from there and a 20-ft one about 28–32% (its height is not verified), and its shadow runs off to the right across the sand. Tilt down until the frame is sand, arch and shadow; let the top edge cut the next coil if it must. From eye height the arch sits below the far horizon, so what is behind the steel is the valley floor and the base of the mountains, not sky — walk sideways until it sits against the palest stretch. Expose for the sand at +⅔ and let the steel be the only dark, warm thing in the frame.

• back to the shoulder, 150–250 yd south of the crossing · ~0.1 mi, ~5 min
• 16:30: sun 10° up at 246°
• from the shoulder: fine · in the lane: avoid

Look north up the road with the 90V and put the coils on both sides of the asphalt in one frame, the road as the interval between them. Know what it is: the body crosses the road at about one distance from you, so the lens cannot stack the coils, and from here a 10-ft arch is only 4–6% of the frame’s height — a band across pale sand, the second slide, not the cover. On the way back, walk onto the sand beside the body and look along it: if the coils line up from somewhere, the 90V will stack them. That is unverified until you see it.

• drive up to the serpent, ~0.15 mi, ~1 min · park on firm ground on the side of the road the head is on, a few steps from it
• 16:39 sun behind the San Ysidro Mountains — computed from a terrain model, not seen
• use judgment — fine with the car beside you; walking the road after sunset: avoid

The head, with the 38V, low, in the last minute of side light and then in shade. As a dark shape on the white sky after the ridge it is the picture everyone already has: take it, but it is not the cover. Then get in the car; no one walks the road from here.

• drive 0.75 mi north on Borrego Springs Rd · pull off ~50 yd south of the elephants · ~3 min
• sunset 17:26 · civil light ends 17:52
• fine — the car is in sight the whole time

More of Breceda’s animals stand together here: African elephants, bighorn sheep, a 1946 Willys Jeep, a padre, a giant tortoise. In mountain shade the steel goes pale and soft and the sand stays light. Look northeast with the 90V: one elephant in shade against the band of mountains still in the sun — they hold the light longer than the valley floor, by how much was not computed.

• Henderson Canyon Rd → S22 east → the 86 north → La Quinta · ~68 mi, ~1h35
• highest point ~970 ft · down to sea level
• the S22 through the badlands is unlit two-lane in the dark: use judgment, and no cell for stretches

The shorter way home is back up the Montezuma Grade, a curved mountain climb alone in the dark, and the range math on it lands at Santa Ysabel close to empty. This way is flat and then freeway. Do not take any dirt turnoff toward Font’s Point — the park says most of its dirt roads need AWD or 4×4.

• La Quinta, CA – CA-111 Supercharger, on CA-111 · 16 stalls, 325 kW
• arriving on about 24% — arithmetic; if the car predicts under 15% at any point, go straight to it, no detours
• charge to 60%

The end of the longest stretch without a charger, and the reason Santa Ysabel was charged to 100. Eat here; Cabazon is forty minutes on.

• the 10 west · ~38 mi, ~50 min
• sea level → ~2,000 ft — the climb toward Banning Pass is why this stop exists

Up the Coachella Valley in the dark with the wind farms blinking on both sides.

• Cabazon, CA – Morongo Trail Supercharger, on Morongo Trail · 12 stalls, 250 kW
• arriving on about 28% — arithmetic
• charge to 90%: ~105 mi home over Banning Pass

The last charge. Thirty-five minutes, and the rest is the pass and then downhill or flat.

• the 10 west → the Westside · ~105 mi, ~2h05
• home on about 20% — arithmetic
• home a little after eleven

Over the pass and down into the basin with the card full. It is a long day for five frames; the next section says how to cut it short.